Prehistoric Park: Dino-babies
by bhut
Summary: There are new arrivals among the park's dinosaurs, while Nigel returns to prehistoric Australia, and sees its top predators in action.
1. Chapter 1

**Prehistoric Park: Dino-babies**

 _Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™._

 _Note: this is a latest story in a series; other, older stories in this series should be read for a better understanding._

The morning dawned sunny but chill, as yesterday's rainstorm did result in a drop of temperature – at least for now.

"So now you are going back to Pleistocene Australia to learn more about the marsupial lion," Suzanne told Nigel, "okay. Last time you went there, you brought back the marsupial in question, as well as a giant echidna and _another_ flightless bird, aside from the South American terror bird," she paused. "How are they doing?"

"The echidna is almost ready with her egg, and the Genyornis feels right at home too," Nigel said brightly. "They aren't eve making any trouble, not unlike the marsupials, over there."

Instinctively, he and Suzanne looked. Sure enough, the Thylacosmilus was trotting through the park's grounds, following the marsupial lion, who was doing the same, but via fences, trees, and the like, doing its' best to avoid walking on the ground.

"This reminds me of the modern Malaysian sun bears," Nigel looked genuinely thoughtful. "Out of all the modern bears they are probably the ones who spend most of their time in trees – to avoid tigers and leopards and other bigger predators. I wonder if the marsupial lion is acting so as well, – because Australia had some big carnivores in the past, especially the reptiles-"

"Okay, good luck all the same – and a sun bear? Really? Is there a moon bear too?" Suzanne could not help but to ask from sheer curiosity.

"Yes. It also lives in Asia, but not in the tropics – mostly in the Himalayas mountains, especially to the north. It is similar to the black bear, which is why it is also called the _Asian_ black bear," Nigel replied, sagely. "Bears are very fascinating, maybe even more so than the cats are – but for now I need to go to Australia where are no cats or bears or any other placental mammals aside from some rodents. Wish me luck!" And he left.

Suzanne just shook her head and gave a look to the two Smilodon, which were still following her around. "He is just crazy," she began, but was interrupted, as two of the park's staff arrived, bearing news: the Triceratops' eggs had hatched!

As she left for (admittedly very important) business, she did not notice the odd twitch in the fur of the Thylacosmilus' belly…

/ / /

Back in the Pleistocene Australia, the things hadn't changed very much – the sun was still hot, the land – dry and open, more of a scrubland than anything else – and there were parrots, large cockatoos of some sort, still flying overhead with shrill, harsh, croaking cries.

"Those are black cockatoos," Nigel noticed, idly, the birds flying overhead. "In our times, they are still around. There are several species of them, and one of them is called, more correctly, the palm cockatoo, but we are not here for them. There are modern parrots in the Prehistoric Park already, so we will not try to capture the parrots, or any other birds, since we already have acquired the Genyornis. Well, _a_ Genyornis-"

It was then that Nigel, alongside his party, (still distracted by the parrots and thoughts about other Australian birds and beasts), walked into a clearing. There was a dead kangaroo – a giant prehistoric one, but still dead – and several creatures, looking almost like dinosaurs, were eating it.

"Be very quiet," Nigel hissed, as he and his people moved slowly backwards into the nearby shrubs. "Those creatures are Quinkana, the last of the _land_ -dwelling crocodiles. The marsupial lion is about 1.5 m long; the Thylacosmilus is a bit shorter; and those reptiles? They must be at least 3 m long, and-" Nigel froze, as one of the Quinkana got a good grip on the dead kangaroo and pulled it off, by jerking its head upwards and standing upwards, bipedally, just like some sort of a strange dinosaur. "They can stand on two legs – to reach into trees and the like. The dead kangaroo appears to be even larger than the Genyornis and the terror bird are, but the Quinkana can handle it just fine."

CRASH!

Something large and heavy appeared on the scene. The Quinkana stopped eating the dead kangaroo and hissed. Several other Australian animals, similar to the modern rat-kangaroos, but bigger, fled through the scrub away from the noise. Instinctively, Nigel and the others followed them, but one of Nigel's people stepped on another giant prehistoric echidna instead, and-

/ / /

The Triceratops hatchlings were adorable. They were colored in various shades of dark (or opaque) green, and they raced around their mother's legs in a manner not unlike that of modern piglets. Compared to their parents, they were tiny, with neither frills nor horns, just tiny vertical bumps on their noses and brows.

Theodora, their mother, was busy mothering them, walking slowly around, making sure that none of them remained behind, dropped some fresh new foliage to them, leaves and needless first, while Theo did his best to be both independent and fatherly, grazing nearby, seemingly separate from the rest of his family, but clearly looking out for them and keeping an eye on the neighbourhood too, clearly ready to jump to defence as soon as a threat appeared.

"It's a good thing that as mammals we just are not perceived as threats," Suzanne muttered to Bob, "otherwise Theo would charge for sure!"

"You think so?" the groundskeeper sceptically asked, giving a look first at the Smilodon, who stared back innocently, as only cats can, regardless of what their size is. "Between them and the marsupials, the young couple over here may lose a youngster or two before too long, and then they will start charging at any mammal instead-"

"I don't know; the Thylacoleo, yes, has eaten a sauropod egg or two, but so have the Troodon and the terror bird-" Suzanne paused, as she pointed to the carnivores in question: they were standing in the shadows of some trees, having once more escaped from their own enclosures. Theo could not see them, but he could smell them, and the late Cretaceous North America had both troodontid dinosaurs and birds, and the Triceratops did not care much for either: Theo huffed and began to paw the ground a little. Both the Troodon and the terror bird moved away.

"See?" Suzanne continued. "None of our carnivores want to tangle with Theo over the youngsters; not yet, anyhow?"

"Maybe," Bob confessed, "maybe. Where is the marsupial lion, though? It is probably the smartest of them all, and it can climb trees-"

A sound distracted them all, (except for the baby dinosaurs). The humans, in particular, looked around, and sure enough, they say the Thylacoleo pull the other marsupial carnivore up a tree, using one of its' paws as a grappling hook. Then, it and the marsupial sabre-tooth just sat there, on two different branches, still trying to figure out a method of communication.

"I don't know, Bob," Suzanne was genuinely thoughtful. "The Thylacosmilus isn't _that_ dangerous-looking; the Smilodon here aren't fully grown yet, yet they are already bigger than it is. In addition, the Thylacoleo itself-" The two of them looked at the two marsupials. "Wait. What's that on the other side of the tree?"

"It's a nest."

"…Yes, Bob, I know that. Whose nest is it, I mean?"

/ / /

Actually, an echidna is not as spiny as a hedgehog, let alone an American porcupine. However, this was a giant prehistoric echidna, with extra-long needles, so getting stabbed by it in the foot hurt. The poor man who was stabbed was down for the moment, and normally the Quinkana would investigate his distress with all the gore that would follow later – but they did not.

Instead, they were busy with the Megalania – the greatest land predator of the prehistoric Australia. The land crocodiles were twice as big as the marsupial lion was. The Megalania, the giant lizard, was twice as big as any of the land crocodiles instead – or the dead kangaroo, for that matter. The deceased marsupial was bigger than a person would be, bigger even than a Genyornis, yet the Megalania dwarfed it, as it ate the corpse.

The Quinkana circled the Megalania yet they did not attack the giant lizard, and it did not appear to be very impressed by the land crocodiles. One of them, however, did move closer than the others, snapping its jaws and hissing angrily. Immediately, the Megalania lashed out with its tail, hitting the smaller reptile in one of the shoulders. The blow appeared to be slow, yet the hit Quinkana just collapsed, and crumpled, and was clearly incapacitated. Instantly, the rest of the land crocodiles were upon it, tearing and eating it alive – in the wild, reptiles were even less altruistic than the mammals were.

"I think that we've seen enough," Nigel muttered, as he and his people picked up their belongings and were moving further back, complete with their wounded – and the second giant echidna. "A marsupial lion _is_ tough, of course, but I doubt that it would be more than a snack to either of these reptiles – it didn't even stand up to the Genyornis, although the brush fire…never mind. We're leaving."

There was a rustle in the shrubs, and out emerged a snake – a constrictor, another giant reptile of Australia…

"This," Nigel spoke with enthusiasm, "is a Wonambi. Let's see if I can capture it!"

The others just twitched.

/

"Well, Suzanne?" Bob asked, as he and some other people held the ladder upon which stood the park's vet. "Whose nest is it?"

"The Microraptors'," Suzanne replied promptly. "And considering that the hatchlings are actually really large, and seem to be covered in feathers, rather than down, they have made it quite some time ago."

"Yes, this sounds about right," Bob nodded, looking rather sheepish. "We've seen such nests around the park for a while, but they don't look too different from bird nests, and we got many tropical bird species in the park too-"

"I know," Suzanne nodded, "I have seen them too, remember? I guess that we got so caught-up with Theo's family, and the hadrosaurs, and even the sauropods, that we forgot about the little people. Our loss. Maybe next time we can get Nigel to bring back someone small and cuddly instead?"

"Speaking of Nigel and bringing back - where are the marsupials?" Bob belatedly remembered the Australian carnivores. "Are they there yet?"

"No, they actually fled when we got the ladder into position," Suzanne pointed to a side. "The marsupial lion landed first – on its feet, just as a cat would – and the Thylacosmilus landed second, onto the lion."

Bob blinked and looked in that direction. Neither of the marsupials sat on top of one another, but were rather having another face-off. The Thylacoleo in particular was sitting on its haunches, (and yes, it did look rather bear-like in this position) and was staring with its big glassy eyes down at the Thylacosmilus, who was crouching and generally looking submissive. Considering that the marsupial lion was responding to it, not correctly, the situation was probably made worse by the minute, when… Nigel arrived, carrying another giant echidna and an even more colossal constrictor snake.

"Hey, Bob!" he said, smiling brightly. "I have resolved the issue of the Australian lion and brought back one of its contemporaries – well, two, if you count the second echidna-"

It was then that several other Australian marsupials came onto the scene. These ones were looking like kangaroos, or perhaps – potoroos, but they were smaller than humans, which is why when the predators on the scene saw them, they all snapped to attention, (metaphorically speaking), and the oversized potoroos just scattered, fleeing all over the park…

"Nigel!" the other people yelled at the Englishman, who just sheepishly smiled and turned off the time portal, before replying with simply:

"Oops?"

End


	2. Chapter 2

**Dino-babies II**

 _Disclaimer: see previous chapter._

…Nigel reacted to the information that the microraptors had bred as he normally did – with enthusiasm.

"This is truly great!" he told his friends and coworkers. "How did we miss it, though?"

"Honestly, Nigel?" Bob the gamekeeper gave the younger man a look. "The little blighters are some of the least worries for us here. Compared to the marsupials, the Smilodon, let alone the tyrannosaurs or the plant-eating dinosaurs, the microraptors tend to be ignored – they are just gliding overhead like exotic birds of some sort, and that's that, really." He looked askance. "Of course, if you were to go to early Cretaceous China and get some of the food supply of theirs, it would be good. Hm?"

"Don't mind if I do," Nigel said brightly. "Bob, Suzanne – talk to you soon: early Cretaceous awaits!" And he left.

Suzanne shot Bob a look.

"What?" the older man shrugged. "He would've gone there regardless. _I'm_ just giving him a handy excuse!"

Suzanne's mood did not improve. (Even though Bob was right).

/ / /

Back at the marsupial compound, the Thylacosmilus – the _marsupial_ sabretooth – was still asleep, when there was movement in the fur on its' belly, and a much smaller copy of it emerged into the world. It looks around with small but bright eyes, twitched its miniscule nose, and began to move around. Its' first steps were shaky, but determined, and soon the little Thylacosmilus was prancing around, looking very happy, (and probably feeling very brave and adventurous).

Something softly landed on top of the (surrogate) glyptodont shell that was kept there as habitat enrichment: the Thylacoleo. It was not a big cat either, but another marsupial carnivore, albeit one from Australia, _not_ South America, and it was genuinely curious about the newcomer, as it leaned its head downwards and took a sniff.

The tiny Thylacosmilus, almost smaller than just the head of the marsupial lion, cautiously moved forwards, caution warring with curiosity.

With a sudden yowl, the youngster's mother intervened, flashing its', or her, sabres, and swinging its paws at the Thylacoleo's muzzle. The claws of the marsupial sabretooth just were not as sharp as those of the 'true' cats, so the marsupial lion was not seriously hurt, but it did sit on its haunches and emit something of a growl.

Neither of the marsupials were as big as the Smilodon were, for example, but the marsupial lion was still bigger than the Thylacosmilus, and pound for pound, it had much more strength too. The marsupial sabretooth also sat upon its haunches and emitted a sound as well, more wailing than growling, (not that that either of them was big on growling, BTW).

For a few long moments, the two marsupials just stared at each other, and then the Thylacoleo jumped upwards, scaled their enclosure's fence, and was gone.

The little Thylacosmilus trotted over to its' mum, and nudging the latter with its' muzzle, made some sort of an enquiring sound, (vaguely similar to a buzzing). The grown-up replied but it sounded more worried than relieved.

/ / /

The jungle of the early Cretaceous China has recovered from the volcano eruption that had befallen Nigel's previous expedition here – to get the microraptors in question. (He had acquired the titanosaurs for his park at that time as well). The trees still were not as tall as they used to be, but they were tall enough; (and there were already microraptors chirping in them too – and maybe other small dinosaurs or primitive birds), and the undergrowth was also thick and luxurious.

"All right, let's start digging!" Nigel brightly told the field team, (except for those, who were keeping an eye upon the time portal leading back to the park). "The local critters won't uncover themselves for us just because!"

As people began to dig, a pair of eyes as yellow as citron and as big as a pomelo watched them from the undergrowth. There was a hungry mouth, full of serrated teeth, too…

/ / /

"So, the Thylacoleo has escaped," Bob spoke placidly to Suzanne as the two of them watched the Thylacosmilus be alone in the marsupials' enclosure. (The youngster was back in the pouch, so humans could not see it). "Hah."

Neither of the humans were particularly worried; unlike the Troodon or the terror bird, which themselves had to be recaptured recently, neither of the marsupials tended to start problems when they escaped, but rather they just walked around, until returning to their enclosure, period. They didn't really bother another, though there were incidents with the Smilodon, but—

"Here it comes back _now_ ," Bob muttered to Suzanne once more. "It may be called a marsupial _lion_ , but I still think that it looks, and acts, more like a wolverine than a wildcat. And… what does it have in its' jaws?"

The Thylacoleo, meanwhile, was ignoring the humans as it quickly climbed upwards, not really slowed down by its load, and then descended into the enclosure, dumping the load before the Thylacosmilus.

It was a baby sauropod, and it was quite dead. The Thylacoleo _did not_ have sabre-tooth, instead it had long and sharp plates of bone, wide, rather than long, designed to crush as well as slice. The dinosaur youngster did not stand a chance.

"…I'm feeling sad, really," Suzanne commented to Bob, as they watched the marsupials interact. The Thylacoleo tore off one of the hind legs and was currently eating it on top of the fake shell, eyeing carefully its South American counterpart. For its' part, the marsupial sabretooth took a few bites from the dead dinosaur, swallowed them, and leaped onto the shell itself, where it licked the Thylacoleo's face, with an almost guilty look on its muzzle.

"…For the dinosaur, I mean," Suzanne concluded. "It's such a pity; Nigel will be so disappointed that we've lost one of the dino-babies…"

"Suzanne?" Bob blinked. "Since when _do_ we have baby sauropods? When did they hatch from their eggs?"

There was a pause, and humans hurried off to the sauropod egg ground to check the damage – and everything else. As they left, they failed to notice the Thylacosmilus youngster get out of its' mother's pouch and re-start its' investigation of the enclosure.

This time, both of the adults accompanied it, to ensure that it did not get into trouble…

/ / /

…Back in the early Cretaceous China Nigel looked at his crew: everyone was ready to leave, while a family of small ornitopod dinosaurs, that hovered at the edge of the clearing where the humans were working, were also ready to move in and to eat some of the bugs themselves – they were slightly omnivorous, it seemed.

"I think that these are jeholosaurs," Nigel commented, eyeing the dinosaurs in a thoughtful manner. "While by the end of the Jurassic the ornithischians – the bird-hipped dinosaurs – began to grow big, some remained small until the very end, when the meteorite came. Jeholosaurus and its' kin were among those small species—"

Nigel did not finish. There was some sound coming deeper from within the Cretaceous jungle. The ornithischians promptly bolted across the clearing into the time portal. Nigel and his team saw something big crashing through the trees – and instinctively followed suit.

The sinraptors – no 'true' raptors, but rather the local version of the allosaurs – followed suit.

/ / /

The ground where the titanosaurs have laid their eggs months earlier was now littered with holes that indicated that the holes were made by the titanosaur hatchlings who have dug their way out from underground rather than by anyone or anything else who tried to dig them out aboveground. There were also baby titanosaur remains, and the characteristic three-toed tracks of the terror bird and the Troodon.

…Currently both of them were back in their enclosure, so between that and the flies it was evident that the sauropod hatchlings have, well, hatched and left several days ago, maybe even more than a week. Where the Thylacoleo have found one of them was another question, for the marsupial, being a mammal, had a better sense of smell and was smarter, (relatively so, but still) than either the Troodon or the terror bird…

"How do we find them now?" Suzanne muttered to Bob. "If they got into the tyrannosaurs' enclosure, for a start-"

"Nigel's back and he's got dinosaurs!" came a cry further down the park.

Suzanne, Bob and the others exchanged looks. "Of course he does," Suzanne muttered. "Let's go then. Maybe he'll have ideas about the baby sauropods while we deal with the new arrivals."

/ / /

Nigel did indeed, and with enthusiasm (especially since the fact that several of hatchlings were already lost got glossed over). "Of course I have an idea!" he said cheerfully. "Are the sinraptors okay, though?"

"Well, both types of dinosaurs got their enclosures, yes," Bob nodded. "It helps that the smaller ones aren't much different from the Ornithomimus, save that they are smaller and like water less. The big carnivores…are not like the tyrannosaurs, actually: while the rexes are currently out and about, feeling antsy, the new couple promptly ate their meal and went to sleep in shade among the trees." He paused and added. "They don't even look like tyrannosaurs, not really…"

"That's because they and tyrannosaurs are only distant cousins to each other," Nigel commented, as he observed the titanosaur herd from a respectable distance. "There, you see?"

The others looked in the indicated direction, and sure enough, the sauropod hatchlings (those that survived, anyhow), were grazing and prancing among the feet of the adult titanosaurs, looking happy and (relatively) safe. "They will stay here, now," Nigel continued brightly. "The adults will protect them from any big predators, and none of the park's smaller predators will bother them either – they aren't smart enough!"

A few of the people, remembering how the Thylacoleo got its' own dinosaur meal and exchanged looks between each other.

The end?


End file.
